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Master Networking: 3 Steps to Create a Better Outreach Email
Porte Global
September 23, 2024
The earlier you build your network, the better.
There are so many benefits to creating a network starting in high school. Networking helps you:
✅ Get more opportunities to make you stand out
✅ Find mentorship to help scale your initiatives
✅ Widen your perspective & discover more about your interests
Here is a 3-step guide to help you start networking.
Be smart about how you network.
Before you spend hours drafting emails to new connections, follow these steps.
1) List your warm leads.
Warm leads = potential contacts who are already familiar with you or your work.
Cold leads = contacts who have never met or interacted with you before.
Warm leads are much more likely to help you than cold leads. They can also introduce you to more people which is even more helpful.
Fill out the table below.
Warm Lead Name | Where you met them | How they are helpful to you | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
Ex: Susan (teacher from another school) | - debate competition, she loved my opening speech | - I want to create a new debate tutoring program - could ask her to refer me students in need | |
You can then create a list of cold leads.
Cold Lead Name | Background/Organization | How they are helpful to you | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
English After School Academy | - teaches several students English & Mathematics | - good referral source for new students | englishschoolacademy.org |
2) Do your research - why should they help you?
In every potential collaboration, there should be benefits for parties on both sides to make your message more compelling.
An example of an ineffective outreach email:
Hi [First Name],
Hope you’re doing well. My name is [Your Name], I am the founder of [your initiative.] I am reaching out to have a potential collaboration or to have you sponsor [your initiative.] Would love to connect!
Thanks,
[Your Name]
Why this is ineffective:
❌No incentive for me to reply
❌No indication that you did research on me - could be copy pasted for several people
❌No alignment - how is this mutually beneficial?
It is generally good practice to indicate you’ve shown more thought into your outreach (in short - making them feel more special.)
The extra 5 minutes taken to create a more personalized message can go a long way.
More effective outreach email example:
Hi [First Name],
Hope you’re doing well. My name is [Your Name], I am the founder of [your initiative] which [description of your initiative goal.] I am reaching out because I saw your recent project, [Project Name], where you [project description.]
This is actually something our team has been working on. We have [Similarity #1 between your initiatives.]
I am curious about [Project Name]. Would love learn more and see ways we could align!
Looking forward to hear from you,
[Your Name]
Why this is more effective:
✅Demonstrates research on the other person
✅Indicates alignment
✅More focused call to action
Going back to adjust your table:
Warm Lead | Where you met them | How do they help you? | Contact | Why you are helpful to them |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ex: Susan (teacher from another school) | - debate competition, she loved my opening speech | - I want to create a new debate tutoring program - could ask her to refer me students in need | - Can’t take on all their students — my initiative can reduce workload | |
All of these tables are compiled into this free downloadable worksheet.
At the end of the day, networking & outreach is skill to be developed. The more you network, the more effective you will be overtime.
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